Red Wings, without Dennis Cholowski, brace for high-powered Leafs

DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings, seeking their first victory, will face one of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL with a depleted defense.

Rookie Dennis Cholowski is out for Thursday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit) due to an upper-body injury. Coach Jeff Blashill said Cholowski might also miss Saturday's game in Boston, which has been switched from 7 p.m. to 3 p.m. due to the A.L. Championship series game between the Red Sox and Astros that night.

Niklas Kronwall, who missed the first three games, will return to the lineup Thursday.

The Leafs (3-1-0) are averaging five goals per game and coming off a 7-6 overtime win in Chicago and 7-4 victory at Dallas.

This will be biggest challenge in the young careers of defensemen Joe Hicketts, Libor Sulak and Filip Hronek. They got a preseason preview on Sept. 28, when the Leafs prevailed 6-2 at Scotiabank Arena.

"We know how fast they can come at you and I think we're better prepared having (faced them)," Blashill said. "That doesn't mean we'll meet that challenge. If they're coming at us flying 100 miles an hour the whole night, it'll be a long night. We better put the puck in behind him, grind them in their zone and make them defend as much as possible."

Auston Matthews already has more goals (seven) than the Red Wings as a team (six), which the same number John Tavares has scored.

"Hopefully they used up all their goals in the first couple of games," Hicketts said. "They're definitely a high-octane team, a team that thrives on the power play. We saw it in the preseason. It's about managing the puck, staying out of the box and limiting their Grade A chances."

Said goaltender Jimmy Howard: "We got to make it tough on them, make them play in their own end. We're going to have to control the puck in the offensive zone."

Toronto is 5 for 10 on the power play, tied for the league lead at 50 percent.

Kronwall, who suffered a "tweak" in practice four days before the season, was paired with Nick Jensen in practice. The other pairs were Danny DeKeyser-Hronek and Sulak-Hicketts.

Cholowski is tied for the team lead with three points (goal, two assists) while averaged 22:10 in ice time, second only to DeKeyser on the team (25:32). Blashill said Kronwall will replace Cholowski on the power play.

"I think they've done a tremendous job so far," Kronwall said of the young defensemen. "It's encouraging to see not just in the short term but also in the long term what we have in the organization, more than just seeing it in preseason."

Line changes

Blashill switched left wingers on the top two lines in practice. Justin Abdelkader skated with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha. Gustav Nyquist skated with Andreas Athanasiou and Thomas Vanek.

"Just a look to see if we can't make one little adjustment to score a little bit more," Blashill said. "I don't know that I'll stay with it necessarily.

"I think we're close to scoring. I've kept the pairs of Vanek--AA and Larkin--Mantha together, but just thought if we flipped that a little bit -- Nyquie's got a real high hockey IQ, too, and had real good success with Vanek at the beginning two years ago. I know it was (Darren) Helm in between them (back then), but we'll see if maybe we can replicate some of that."

Said Nyquist: "I thought the lines were working fine but obviously we're not scoring enough goals. Probably just trying something new, guys in different spots, and hopefully get a boost offensively."